Date Collected
Fall 11-26-2017
Place item was collected
North Logan, Utah
Informant
Debra Sara Bowen
Point of Discovery/Informant Bio
Debra [Debbie] Sara Bowen lives in North Logan, Utah. She has four daughters, with whom she has shared much of her culinary knowledge, and one beloved son. She was raised in Mantua, Utah [pronounced “MAN-uh-way” or “MAN-tuh-way” by locals], where she learned most of her now hand-recorded recipes from her mother. She grew up in a quasi-urbanized rural area. She worked on her uncle’s beet farm, and was familiar with dairy farmers. Her family, however, did not grow up on a farm. She and her three sisters know and sometimes tell the origin story of this foodway. She is the collector’s mother.
Context
This foodway was collected in Debbie’s kitchen. She kept the recipe inside a special box of recipes. This recipe is never taken out and used for anything else except during Christmas (hence the name). She may sometimes give out the recipe to friends or family, but she never makes the rolls except on Christmas morning, and never for anyone but her own family. Her children would say that “it wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas morning rolls after opening presents.”
Text
Christmas Morning Rolls
1pkg. butterscotch pudding mix (not instant)
½ c. butter
¾ c. brown sugar
½ c. nuts [Nuts, however, can be removed to taste]
18-24 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls
Grease pan. Arrange rolls in pain loosely.
Sprinkle pudding over rolls. Cook butter, brown sugar
and nuts till sugars dissolved. Pour sugar mixture
over rolls. Cover w/tin foil. Let stand on
counter over night.
[on reverse side of recipe]:
Christmas Morning bake 350 for 30 min.
Move it immediately into a deep dish. Don’t get
burned!
Merry Christmas
Texture
At the time of serving, Debbie’s family always finds the Christmas Morning Rolls cooling in a pan over the stove just after opening presents together on Christmas morning. Debbie and her husband are usually tired from wrapping the presents the night before. As the family has aged, some of Debbie’s older children are also exhausted, and having been woken up by Debbie’s grandkids. Debbie’s face glows when she serves this dish.
Course
English 2210
Instructor
Lynne McNeill
Semester and year
Fall 2017
Theme
G1: Holidays
EAD Number
1.13.1.7.17
Recommended Citation
Bowen, Ben, "Christmas Morning Rolls" (2017). USU Student Folklore Fieldwork. Paper 84.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/student_folklore_all/84